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http://www.sovsport.ru/gazeta/default.asp?id=256196
April 12, 2007, #050 (17 204)
We discussed the state of figure skating in our country with one of the leading pair skating specialists Nikolai Velikov. He works in Saint Petersburg with his spouse Ludmila Georgievna. Among his students are world champions Maria Petrova, Anton Sikhuralidze, and many other famous skaters
[size=+1]WANT A MEDAL? JUMP TRIPLE-TRIPLE.[/size]
Nikolai Matveevich, was it possible to soften, if not entirely to prevent, the disaster of 2007 World championships?
I think so. First of all, there should have been some order in the team. As it was, other than in ice dance, it was unclear until the last moment who was going, and who wasn’t. That unnerved the athletes and their coaches a lot, preventing a full out planned preparation for the championships.
Let’s start with why your own pair skating tanked as it did
It’s such a shame that Petrova/ Tikhonov ended their career on such a sad note! Lesha got injured – pulled groin. I think the guys didn’t plan to finish LIKE THAT.
The team Mukhortova/ Trankov started having trouble during practices in Tokyo. In the free skate, when first Masha made a mistake, and than Maxim did, the kid got totally lost. They usually skate well, but as it was… Masha’s injury, which she sustained a couple of months ago, made itself evident. Yuka Kawaguchi, too, did not fully recover from her injuries by Tokyo.
I am sure that Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov should have been sent to the World championships. They were very well prepared for that competition. Petrova and Tikhonov, meanwhile, should not have been included in the team, but invited to Tokyo as honored guests. Our federation is not so poor as to be unable to splurge like that on skaters, who have been serving the Russian team for almost a decade.
In theory, could we have been in contention of pair medals?
Alas. Today, pair skating has a leaders’ quartet that is impenetrable for any of our kids. First of all, it’s the Chinese Xue Shen/ Hongbo Zhao, Qing Pang/ Juan Tong, German Savchenko/ Szolkowy, and Ukrainian Volosozhar/ Morozov. Those duos have a solid reputation with the judges.
In the finally tally, Americans and Canadians followed the leaders. This includes Dube/ Davison, who just two years ago visibly lost to my former team Mukhortova/ Trankov. Now it’s the reverse.
In singles skating, our kids really tanked!
Yes, but I can’t blame Andrei Lutai or Sergei Voronov at all. The boys did not spare themselves in this fight. It’s not their fault that it all ended in such disrepute. Both of them still lack international experience. No Junior World championships can replace participation in a serious “meat grinder” – that’s invaluable. Yes, they’re both talented. But it takes time for this talent to bring results.
Besides, Voronov performed in Tokyo rather tired, also with a serious injury. He skated his free with inflamed ankle joint and knee; after the performance, our coaches carried him to the bus as he couldn’t walk. Basically, he is a hero. No irony here.
What about the girls?
A complete fiasco! This, despite Arina Martynova having skated a clean free for the first time this season. If you don’t do the “triple-triple” combo, you have no chance for a high placement. That is the level of women’s single skating today.
Just take the trio of medalists as an example. Of course, the Korean Yu-Na Kim is a separate story due to her airy, light skating. But Elena Sokolova was a disappointment. Lately, she’s been landing her favorite triple lutz on both feet.
Here is what’s so irksome. Had any of our ladies risen just one place in the final tally, we could have sent two skaters to the next worlds. As it is, we’ve shown the most disastrous results of the past 40 years.
Even the ice dance didn’t save us…
What was happening in the ice dance was despicable. I am talking about how Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin were treated. They should have been up on the podium. The only leaders I like beside our kids are the Bulgarians Denkova/ Stavijski who successfully defended their title. The French team Delobel/ Schoenfelder that I like a lot, skated visible worse than at the recent European championships, where they medaled. I am not even talking about Belbin/ Agosto. Even without being an ice dance specialist, I could see serious mistakes in their free dance. How could they medaled skating like that? Their program appeared to simple to me. This contrasted greatly with the dance of Domnina/ Shabal,n, which had taste, style, and difficulty.
Khokhlova/ Novitsky were not in the medal contention, but they are a good, original duo. Their coaches Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk are doing a great job. Whereas Domnina and Shabalin have a winning beauty and style, Khokhlova and Novitski are fresh, dazzling, and bold. In a word, Russia today has two good ice dance pairs, very different from each other.
[size=+1]IT TAKES TIME TO BUILD ADEQUARE REPLACMENT[/size]
We have teams, but no medals
You see, a medal in figure skating comes not only from one given dance, but from a thousand details and underwater currents. Perhaps, it is still the backlash of our three golds in Turin.
Do you agree that a colossal harm to our serves was caused by the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKR) leadership paying too much attention to the leaders who have now retired from the big sport?
Yes, I agree. Nobody was interested in Juniors. Only in the adult team leaders.
The senior coach of the Junior team Galina Petrovna Golubkova did all she could working with our reserve, and our victories at the junior level should largely be credited to her. Despite this, she cannot go over her boss’s head.
In your opinion, it FFKR president Valentin Piseev personally responsible to the Tokyo disaster?
Yes. He is. Who was it that just let the situation go?
Should Russian fans just go drown themselves?
In fact, nothing terrible is happening, if you don’t count women’s single skating. There, it’s all finished, but the problems are resolvable in all other disciplines. All serious coaches are working. There is competition, so result improvement is inevitable. Metaphorically speaking, Russian figure skating’s top has been removed. It just takes time to build adequate replacement.
What if we convince the Turin 2006 champions to come back?
Is it worth it? First of all, let’s be honest, some of them are not in good health. Secondly, many have other plans. Thirdly, it’s much easier to skate in shows. And it gives good money. But that’s not all. It’s not a given that our fabulous Zhenya Plushenko would be won in Tokyo. Men’s single skating has made a huge step forward in the past year. It would have been difficult to compete with well-prepared Lambiel, Joubert, and Takahashi.
Currently, more than a hundred of our specialists are working abroad. It’s like they are working against their own country.
If there is one group that’s not responsible for the current situation – it’s the coaches. They are making their living. Our system is like that. It’s not just the port. Take a long – almost all of our serious scientists are now working in America. It’s about the financing. In our sport, it’s not only up to Piseev, but also up to Russian and municipal laws. Relatively speaking, things are great in Petersburg. The care is modest, but it is felt. In many other cities, it’s way worse than that.
April 12, 2007, #050 (17 204)
[size=+2]Figure Skating. Renowned Russian coach Nikolai Velikov: This nightmare is the first in forty years![/size]
Dmitri Somov
We discussed the state of figure skating in our country with one of the leading pair skating specialists Nikolai Velikov. He works in Saint Petersburg with his spouse Ludmila Georgievna. Among his students are world champions Maria Petrova, Anton Sikhuralidze, and many other famous skaters
[size=+1]WANT A MEDAL? JUMP TRIPLE-TRIPLE.[/size]
Nikolai Matveevich, was it possible to soften, if not entirely to prevent, the disaster of 2007 World championships?
I think so. First of all, there should have been some order in the team. As it was, other than in ice dance, it was unclear until the last moment who was going, and who wasn’t. That unnerved the athletes and their coaches a lot, preventing a full out planned preparation for the championships.
Let’s start with why your own pair skating tanked as it did
It’s such a shame that Petrova/ Tikhonov ended their career on such a sad note! Lesha got injured – pulled groin. I think the guys didn’t plan to finish LIKE THAT.
The team Mukhortova/ Trankov started having trouble during practices in Tokyo. In the free skate, when first Masha made a mistake, and than Maxim did, the kid got totally lost. They usually skate well, but as it was… Masha’s injury, which she sustained a couple of months ago, made itself evident. Yuka Kawaguchi, too, did not fully recover from her injuries by Tokyo.
I am sure that Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov should have been sent to the World championships. They were very well prepared for that competition. Petrova and Tikhonov, meanwhile, should not have been included in the team, but invited to Tokyo as honored guests. Our federation is not so poor as to be unable to splurge like that on skaters, who have been serving the Russian team for almost a decade.
In theory, could we have been in contention of pair medals?
Alas. Today, pair skating has a leaders’ quartet that is impenetrable for any of our kids. First of all, it’s the Chinese Xue Shen/ Hongbo Zhao, Qing Pang/ Juan Tong, German Savchenko/ Szolkowy, and Ukrainian Volosozhar/ Morozov. Those duos have a solid reputation with the judges.
In the finally tally, Americans and Canadians followed the leaders. This includes Dube/ Davison, who just two years ago visibly lost to my former team Mukhortova/ Trankov. Now it’s the reverse.
In singles skating, our kids really tanked!
Yes, but I can’t blame Andrei Lutai or Sergei Voronov at all. The boys did not spare themselves in this fight. It’s not their fault that it all ended in such disrepute. Both of them still lack international experience. No Junior World championships can replace participation in a serious “meat grinder” – that’s invaluable. Yes, they’re both talented. But it takes time for this talent to bring results.
Besides, Voronov performed in Tokyo rather tired, also with a serious injury. He skated his free with inflamed ankle joint and knee; after the performance, our coaches carried him to the bus as he couldn’t walk. Basically, he is a hero. No irony here.
What about the girls?
A complete fiasco! This, despite Arina Martynova having skated a clean free for the first time this season. If you don’t do the “triple-triple” combo, you have no chance for a high placement. That is the level of women’s single skating today.
Just take the trio of medalists as an example. Of course, the Korean Yu-Na Kim is a separate story due to her airy, light skating. But Elena Sokolova was a disappointment. Lately, she’s been landing her favorite triple lutz on both feet.
Here is what’s so irksome. Had any of our ladies risen just one place in the final tally, we could have sent two skaters to the next worlds. As it is, we’ve shown the most disastrous results of the past 40 years.
Even the ice dance didn’t save us…
What was happening in the ice dance was despicable. I am talking about how Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin were treated. They should have been up on the podium. The only leaders I like beside our kids are the Bulgarians Denkova/ Stavijski who successfully defended their title. The French team Delobel/ Schoenfelder that I like a lot, skated visible worse than at the recent European championships, where they medaled. I am not even talking about Belbin/ Agosto. Even without being an ice dance specialist, I could see serious mistakes in their free dance. How could they medaled skating like that? Their program appeared to simple to me. This contrasted greatly with the dance of Domnina/ Shabal,n, which had taste, style, and difficulty.
Khokhlova/ Novitsky were not in the medal contention, but they are a good, original duo. Their coaches Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk are doing a great job. Whereas Domnina and Shabalin have a winning beauty and style, Khokhlova and Novitski are fresh, dazzling, and bold. In a word, Russia today has two good ice dance pairs, very different from each other.
[size=+1]IT TAKES TIME TO BUILD ADEQUARE REPLACMENT[/size]
We have teams, but no medals
You see, a medal in figure skating comes not only from one given dance, but from a thousand details and underwater currents. Perhaps, it is still the backlash of our three golds in Turin.
Do you agree that a colossal harm to our serves was caused by the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKR) leadership paying too much attention to the leaders who have now retired from the big sport?
Yes, I agree. Nobody was interested in Juniors. Only in the adult team leaders.
The senior coach of the Junior team Galina Petrovna Golubkova did all she could working with our reserve, and our victories at the junior level should largely be credited to her. Despite this, she cannot go over her boss’s head.
In your opinion, it FFKR president Valentin Piseev personally responsible to the Tokyo disaster?
Yes. He is. Who was it that just let the situation go?
Should Russian fans just go drown themselves?
In fact, nothing terrible is happening, if you don’t count women’s single skating. There, it’s all finished, but the problems are resolvable in all other disciplines. All serious coaches are working. There is competition, so result improvement is inevitable. Metaphorically speaking, Russian figure skating’s top has been removed. It just takes time to build adequate replacement.
What if we convince the Turin 2006 champions to come back?
Is it worth it? First of all, let’s be honest, some of them are not in good health. Secondly, many have other plans. Thirdly, it’s much easier to skate in shows. And it gives good money. But that’s not all. It’s not a given that our fabulous Zhenya Plushenko would be won in Tokyo. Men’s single skating has made a huge step forward in the past year. It would have been difficult to compete with well-prepared Lambiel, Joubert, and Takahashi.
Currently, more than a hundred of our specialists are working abroad. It’s like they are working against their own country.
If there is one group that’s not responsible for the current situation – it’s the coaches. They are making their living. Our system is like that. It’s not just the port. Take a long – almost all of our serious scientists are now working in America. It’s about the financing. In our sport, it’s not only up to Piseev, but also up to Russian and municipal laws. Relatively speaking, things are great in Petersburg. The care is modest, but it is felt. In many other cities, it’s way worse than that.
She is much moore graceful than Martynova.
